25 years of International Relations at TU Dresden / 20 (+1) years Center for International Studies at TU Dresden
In autumn 2023, we celebrated together the first enrolments in 1998 and the founding of the Center for International Studies at TU Dresden in 2002.
Together with many IB alumni, current students, professors, panelists from different countries and our partner UNU-Flores, the conference was dedicated to the sixth Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations: Clean Water and Sanitation.
Realizing Sustainable Development post-2030: The International Politics, Economics and Law of Clean Water & Sanitation (SDG 6)
Today, 771 million people – 1 in 10 – lack access to safe water and 1.7 billion people – 1 in 4 – lack access to a toilet. Water is the most existential resource for life on Earth – and our ability to find solutions for sustainable and equitable water use, access to clean water and sanitation will be crucial for the avoidance of deaths, involuntary migration, and (military) conflict now and in the future.
Halfway down the road towards the SDGs, this Conference aimed at taking stock of the legal, economic, social and political determinants of (un)sustainable and (un)equal access to clean water and sanitation and discussed the prospects of realizing SDG 6 (“Ensure clean water and sanitation for all”). It addressed the challenges and promises of taking the SDGs further, into a post-2030 phase, and for revisiting, strengthening or expanding international standards, institutions and governance structures, implementation and market mechanisms related to clean water and sanitation. With a view to contemporary transformation and political struggles within the United Nations system, the conference assessed the extent to which international institutions have the capacity to effectively address and potentially solve water-related problems and conflicts.
Following an interdisciplinary approach, three panels brought together experts from academia, think tanks, civil society and national and international political institutions working on water, sanitation and sustainability.
Read the conference report here: